22/09/10

Its been a while since i last updated this blog, lack of internet means i havn't had much time to sit and write a great deal, combined with the fact im fairly lazy.... Okay.. so i've been tattooing for the past five months now and i've been getting quite a bit of practice in with having a fair few friends in to tattoos and them being brave enough to let me draw on them. Thought i'd upload a few photos of the tattoos ive done so far and some im currently working on.

Shaun's chest, one of my first attempts at script so i was pretty nervous, its seems to be one of the harder elements of tattooing. Props to shaun for trusting me to do such a big piece on his chest. The tattoo is based on the book "The Greatest Show On Earth" by Richard Dawkins about evolution.. This was his second sitting, one last sitting to go where i'll add different shades of blue.



Sarah's legs, the wifey was one of the first tattoo's i did, i got a chance to get my style out in this one so its up there with one of my favourites so far. The blokey was done a few weeks later, gunna stick to similar colours in both. Chuffed that sarah gave up both her legs for me!


Different Sarah, russian doll on calf, again i tried to get my own style through.. mainly on the face. One more sitting to go, get more colour in and shading.


Liam's sailor jerry hula girl, about as traditional as you can get and pretty fun to do, guna wack some colour in soon.


Joe's blokey smoken a pipe with all seeing eye, straight out my sketch book.. Currently drawing up a wifey in a veil smoking for his other leg...


Dave my work mate's candle burning at both ends, drilled the fuck out of his shin bone, colour to come soon.


Chris's traditional style ship and St elmo's fire (lightning).. representing his new career in the navy, colour and shading to come when he returns from his first trip at sea.

Thats just a few images of the tattoos i've done so far.. Im currently planning a sketchbook and a few sheets of flash to give people some options and ideas for future tattoos. Really enjoying tattooing so far and looking forward to learning more... watch this space

p.s Get in touch if your interested in getting some work done by me.. thanks.

20|4|09

After years of trying i'v eventually went and got a tattoo apprenticeship, I owe a pint or two to a couple of friends for a putting a good word in, cheers!. Im working at Arthur T sharp's in Heaton, newcastle.. Been at it for few weeks now, hanging around the shop, drawing designs, answering the phone etc cudn't get much better. Its common to tattoo yourself before others to get used to how deep to go in to the skin, so i did my first tattoo on myself last week....

Took me just under three hours and i bottled the last leaf as i got sick of hurting myself, pretty chuffed with the outcome... no shit lines i can't fix.

Tattooing my mate Mark on sunday so i'll throw a photo up on here, document my progression...

08|03|10

As you may know while i stayed in Dallas i was working for my uncle Paul at his computer parts company to earn my keep so i didnt worry about spending money... to be honest at first i was pretty gutted i was working 5 days a week in a warehouse, it wasn't what i had in mind when coming to america but without it i wouldn't have been able to do half the things i did while i was here and as time went by i began to enjoy being there it also got me motivated and back in to a working mindset which i definately didn't have before i came here. Aswell as those things i also worked with some great people ...


Left to right.. Simon, Steve, John, Andy and Kingsley..

Simon had only started a few weeks back, hes irish but he was born in america so lucky for him he doesn't have to worry about a visa, Steve's the technician, really intelligent, dont think there's much he doesn't know about computers, John is co owner of Vox (the company) big personality which i found intimidating at first but hes a really sound guy, Andy was my working partner for the most part.. he said i worked like a mexican, loves woman and likes everyone to know it.. Kingsley is johns best friend and probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet, loves reggae and is currently looking for a huge sound system for his house to play his tunes through. There are others who work there but these are the few i spent the most time with and got to know really well..




Andy and his pimp mobile, Chevrolet Cortina don't know the year, working electric seats, windows everything, we be cruising round in this quite a bit. Holla back yo!

03:03:10

So im coming to the end of my stay in Dallas Texas, Been here for just under 3 months. It feels like forever since i was back in newcastle and im quite suprised at how much ive missed it, Ive had a sweet time over here but i've definately missed family n friends. It feels like im just starting to get used to the american way of life, who knows i mite be back very soon...

Ever since i got here i said i was going to get a tattoo, i wanted my bands name as i've had some of the best times with that lot as well as Whitley Bay for all the other sweet friends and memories along with it being funny just to get it tattoed on me, also i wanted to get something that represented my stay in america so this is what i got....



Got it done at Elm Street Tattoo shop by Oliver Peck, vans pro skate boarder, owner of the world record for the most tattoos done in one day and ex husband of Kat Von D. He sponsors my friend Shannons Girls Football team "elm street panthers" so she knows him pretty well and managed to get me a slot while he was back from being on tour, which he is a lot.. Was chuffed to have eventually got the tat done, down for life..

Heres a few drawings i've been doing to add to the collection of Birds... enjoy

02|02|10

i've been planning to do a selection of paintings/prints using the "Birds" theme for a while, im going to be using my spare time while im over here to do the sketches so when i get back i can get on the printing side and hopefully do an exhibition. Heres a couple of the first sketches ive done which will be turned in to prints with wallpaper and found wood etc. enjoy..

16:01:10

Today me and Marcela decided to hit up Fort Worth, Dallas' neighbouring city. We left the house round 11:00, neither of us had eaten breakfast so we stopped at a small mexican cafe when we arrived in fort worth.... i went for a BLT sarnie so not realy experimenting much on the mexican front, i'm not that impressed by American bacon neither, but it went down well and set us up for the day.

After breaky we checked on the sat nav for some near by attractions, looked up art galleries and found a few in the centre of fort worth. The first gallery was a bit shit to be fair, realistic paintings of cowboys n indians doesn't do much for me, there was the odd nice piece here and there but nothing worth mentioning.

Second stop was just down the road, The Museum of Modern art. There was pieces from the likes of Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Robert rauschenberg and Francis Bacon. I was pretty chuffed as i've been a "fan" of Rauschenberg's work for some time so it was nice to finaly see some of his work in the flesh so to speak... They're holding an exhibition of Warhols work in a couple of weeks so half of the Gallery/Museum was closed off, i mite have to pop back for that.

The Building itself was pretty amazing, after we had a good look around i purchased a book from the gift shop on Mexican Folk art, day of the dead, sugar skulls etc

Next we went to another art museum across the street as it was advertising Michelangelo's first painting, he did it when he was just 13 and it was dated back to the 1400's. I ended up buying the other book on Durer, Marcela bought a Matisse print and the lady on the desk was a complete racist and served her with the worst attitude after being fairly nice and polite while serving me.

Michelangelo's first painting!!!!

The rest of the museum was fairly shit so we left and headed down to the stock yards... when we got there it was like stepping in to an old western film, loads of cowboys on horses, people cracking whips etc... We went in to an antiques shop called The Cross Eyed Moose, it was full of stuffed animals heads and anything u can imagine to do with cowboys, even real snake heads made in to key rings.

The longhorn bull and Marcela...

A dog,cat,rat pyramid...

After a wander we went to Joe-T. Garcia's for some Enchiladas and their famous Margaritas before heading home...

Back home getting ready to go on the lash.... in a bit...

11:01:10

Finally got a picture of this, this happens nearly everyday, there's normally a lot more birds... probs gunna use it as a starting point for an illustration.